Again, Hard to Pick Can't pick an absolute favourite, but my list of faves includes: Terry Pratchett Bill Bryson Graham Masterton Dave Barry Dr Seuss (never had his books as a child, but have lots now that I have kids of my own, and I adore them!) Matthew Reilly (particularly the Scarecrow books) James Herriott I'm trying a lot of new authors at the moment, so this list will change and be updated every couple of weeks for a while When I was a teenager I was a Dean Koontz freak, and heavily into James Herbert, Shaun Hutson, Richard Laymon, Stephen King, and experimented with Raymond E. Feist, Tad Williams, Jack McDevitt, and a few others. When I was a kid I was a huge Enid Blyton fan, plus I loved the Worst Witch books by Jill Murphy, everything by Roald Dahl (especially The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Magic Finger), Richard Scarry (for the illustrations, mostly!), The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (I think that's his name.)
Ahh, Another difficult question. I still have so much reading to do. I also don't tend to think in absolutes. Anyway, I think Orwell is a great and important writer. I also enjoy Jose Saramago's stories, Doris Lessing's brilliant writing style, J.K. Rowling's world of magic, Stephen King and Ken Follet's thrilling and witty writing, Gabriel Garcia Marquez' dreamy novels and Jef Geeraerts' harsh realism.
For me it is Robert Neill think his characterisation and scene setting is unequalled. Second I am biased but love Islander on this site his work is to me stunning, description and dialogue amazing. Need to get him to get something published lol
Hard question. I have too many to list them all but those who influence me and inspire me are: Tim Willocks, Don Winslow, Boston Teran, Geroge Pelecanos, Peter Straub, Dennis Lehane, Clive Barker, John Connolly, RJ Ellory, James Ellroy, Daniel Woodrell, Tom Franklin, Cormac McCarthy, Craig Davidson, David Simon, Thomas Harris, Edward Bunker, Nick Stone, Hubert Selby Jr ...just to name but a few
As of late, I've been reading Charlaine Harris' novels. She really draws me in. I also like J.R. Wards, Blackdaggar Brotherhood books, but I haven't gotten very far into them yet. Obviously, I'm on a paranormal romance kick.
I think my favourite author is Alfred Bester. He's only written four novels, and I've only read those two that are considered his best (The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man), but his writing has very original and powerful imagery, and an emotional intensity to the stories. Another very inspiring author is Alfred Elton VanVogt. His stories are usually flawed, with unbelievable characters and plots, and many of his earlier and later stories are not worth reading. But when he's at his best, he has original and powerful imagery, like Bester. Admittedly, it was a long time since I read them, and my opinion may not be the same today. And Neil Gaiman, of course. How can you not like his works? I vote him most likely to be considered our time's equivalent of Shakespeare a century or two after his death.
J.K. Rowling George R.R. Martin Stephen King Kurt Vonnegut Several more authors, those are just a select few I have been reading lately that I enjoy. Especially Kurt - Just got through Cat's Cradle and Slaugtherhouse V, both great books.
... John Steinbeck Fyodor Dostoyevsky George Carlin Nazım Hikmet Ran Alexander Pushkin Sunay Akın Leo Tolstoy That is all I can remember now.
My two all-time favourites: >Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (The Sherlock Holmes books) >Jeff Lindsey (Dexter)
Around 2001-04: Andy Griffiths D) & Anthony Horowitz About 2006-08: Matthew Reilly Now?: I'm not really sure. My reading scope has generally being a little narrow so I'm just looking around the place.
My all-time favourite: G. K. Chesterton. I listened to the Man Who Was Thursday on Librivox.org, and I was utterly hooked - he has a way of describing people and events which make them pop out in technicolour. He also has a knack for the fantastic, and his plots are just fantastic to read. I tend to like individual works instead of authors, but I soon began devouring his non-fiction essays: Chesterton had a remarklably modern viewpoint, and his works are refreshing, even now. My other favourites are Roald Dahl, Mark Gatiss, P. G. Wodehouse... *drones on*
I've read a few non-fiction pieces by Chesterton - mainly intros to novels of Dickens - and he is truly wonderful. Warm and insightful. Clear and powerful prose. Must seek out some more.
Have many, but a few that come to mind Charles Bukowski - for his simplicity in writing, but the ability to conjure up emotion John Fowles - The Magus is one of my favorite books Carl Hiaasen - for his comical characters and the crazy situations they get into Pauline Reage - as Story of O shaped my psyche at age 11 like nothing else could have
Mine is Laurell K. Hamilton right now. I say right now, because I own more of her books than anyone else's.
John Wyndham, without a shadow of a doubt. I don't think anyone does logical science fiction in the same way as he did. A true master of storytelling. The Kraken Wakes is my favourite novel of his.
Mine has got to be Brian Jacques. No one can write a better anthropomorphic animal story than he can.
I've never really thought of who is my number one favourite. Some favourites are Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien... Though my favourite book next to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard. But I'm not planning on reading other books from Mitchard. From Anne Rice I'm reading only The Vampire Chronicles. I read King's older work when I was a teen but these days I'd rather stick to the slightly less disturbing movie adaptations. J.R.R. Tolkien is awesome but I've read only The Lord of the Rings completely through. I would've finished The Hobbit too but other fandoms stole my interest in the middle of my reading while it wasn't as captivating as LotR. I actually skipped work one day, claiming to be sick, though I'd just been reading The Lord of the Rings all night because I just couldn't put it down and wanted to continue reading... *grin* But...I guess the number one would still be J.K. Rowling. From her I think I'd read anything and I read the Harry Potter books through in a record time seeing to how fast I usually read book series (especially with my poor eye vision). I read PoA, GoF and OotP all within weeks and Deathly Hallows within a week. Jo is a terrific writer in every which way, even though I acknowledge the HP series has many little flaws and I don't agree in everything she does with her characters and all that... I actually think she wated couple of awfully potential characters... but still. i love her to bits.
I have several, but for nostalgic reasons I think I must choose Agatha Christie as my number one. I read her books religiously when I was younger, and still enjoy a little Poirot now and again (my grandmother and I would always argue about who was better, Poirot or Miss. Marple. Poirot FTW). After becoming a more experienced reader, I've stopped considering her one of the greatest, but still my fav. Another one I love is Sophie Kinsella, because her books makes me feel happy and warm inside. Her style is a little amateurish, but her characters are amazing and believable and true to themselves even in the most absurd situations. Then we got Anne Rice While I don't always like her take on vampires, she is an amazing story teller. She is a bit to descriptive though. Sometimes I find it truly beautiful, but sometimes it gets really, really, REALLY tedious.
I have many! But the one that has stuck out is David Eddings - He was the catalyst that got me into fantasy fiction novels. I have branched out to others from there such as Robert Jordan, Brent Weeks, Tamora Pierce and many others
